Boy Scout Outdoor Ethics Award

This Award is meant for Boy Scouts.

Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award

Boy Scouts and Scouters can learn about leaving no trace and treading lightly to improve their outdoor skills, and then receive recognition for their efforts. Scouts and adults first earn the Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award and can then proceed on to the Outdoor Ethics Action Award with further effort.We should practice Leave No Trace in our attitude and actions wherever we go. Understanding nature strengthens our respect toward the environment and helps us enjoy it more while better preserving it for others.

Leave No Trace Principles

Plan Ahead and Prepare

Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces

Dispose of Waste Properly

Leave What You Find

Minimize Campfire Impacts

Respect Wildlife

Be Considerate of Other Visitors

When scouts and leaders complete the requirements they may submit an application form and purchase an Outdoor Ethics Emblem temporary patch (No. 618280). The patch should be displayed centered on the right pocket of the uniform.

Participate in an outdoor ethics course, workshop, or training activity facilitated by a person who has completed the BSA Leave No Trace 101 course or the BSA outdoor ethics orientation course OR by a BSA outdoor ethics trainer or master who has completed one of the following: the Leave No Trace Master Educator course, the Leave No Trace Trainer course, the Tread Lightly! Master Tread Trainer course, or the Tread Lightly! Tread Trainer course.

Requirement #4 says to "participate in an outdoor ethics activity." The person who can facilitate the outdoor ethics activity is any person who is any of the following:

a Leave No Trace Master Educator or Trainer

a Tread Lightly! Master Tread Trainer or Tread Trainer

a person who has completed either the BSA outdoor ethics orientation course or the BSA Leave No Trace 101 course

any person who has earned the BSA Leave No Trace Awareness Card

any individual designated by a council outdoor ethics advocate or, in the absence of an advocate, the Scout executive or his or her designee

Outdoor Ethics Action Award

The Outdoor Ethics Action Award encourages Scouts and adult leaders to put their skills of minimizing impact into practice.

Explain how each of the four points of the Outdoor Code guide your actions when outdoors.

Do the following:

Read the Boy Scout Handbook on Outdoor Ethics.

Teach a skill related to the Outdoor Code or Leave No Trace to another Scout in your troop or another Scouting unit.

Complete one of the following:

Successfully complete a term as your troop outdoor ethics guide, including reading the Outdoor Ethics Guide Handbook and carrying out a plan developed with the support of your advisor or Scoutmaster.

Work with your troop's patrol leaders' council to plan an outing that emphasizes the complete set of Leave No Trace or Tread Lightly! principles. All members of the troop participating in the outing should practice the specific outdoor ethics skills needed to minimize impacts from their use of the outdoors.

Follow the Outdoor Code, Leave No Trace, and Tread Lightly! principles on three outings. Write one or more paragraphs about the three outings you attended, explaining how you followed the Outdoor Code, Leave No Trace, and Tread Lightly! Discuss what you wrote with your unit leader, troop outdoor ethics guide, outdoor ethics guide advisor, or an individual who has completed the BSA Leave No Trace 101 course, the Leave No Trace Master Educator course, the Leave No Trace Trainer course, the Tread Lightly! Master Tread Trainer course, or the Tread Lightly! Tread Trainer course.

On a troop outing, help your troop on a service activity that addresses recreational impacts related to the type of outing. The project should be approved in advance by the landowner or land manager and lead to permanent or long-term improvements.

Participate in a report at a court of honor or similar family event on the service activity conducted to complete Requirement 5.

Scouter Action Award Requirements

Do the following:

Earn the Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award.

Complete the BSA outdoor ethics orientation course.

Discuss with your troop how each of the four points of the Outdoor Code guide your actions when outdoors.

Read the North American Skills & Ethics booklet to learn about the principles of Leave No Trace. Review the principles of Tread Lightly! Review Chapter 7 of the Boy Scout Handbook and Fieldbook chapters about Leave No Trace, using stoves and campfires, hygiene and waste disposal, and traveling and camping in special environments.

Facilitate your troop's leadership in planning and leading an outing that emphasizes the complete set of Leave No Trace or Tread Lightly! principles. All members of the troop participating in the outing should use outdoor ethics and the specific skills to minimize impacts from their use of the outdoors.

Help plan and participate in at least three outings where your troop can follow the Outdoor Code and practice the principles of Leave No Trace and Tread Lightly! Facilitate a discussion at the end of the outings.

Assist your unit in arranging for a service project emphasizing outdoor ethics with a local landowner or land manager. The project must be approved by the landowner or land manager in advance. Participate in that project. The project should lead to permanent or long-term improvements.

Make, or facilitate youth in making, a presentation at a roundtable or similar gathering about what your troop did for Requirement 4.

Help at least three Boy Scouts earn the youth Outdoor Ethics Action Award.